81-year-old says he killed family to save them from ‘miserable life,’ Colorado cops say

An 81-year-old man told Englewood police he killed his wife and daughter with an ax to spare them a “miserable life” after losing his job, Colorado officials and news outlets reported.

Reginald Maclaren called police at 6:03 p.m. Saturday, March 25, to report that his wife and daughter had been killed, the Englewood Police Department said in a news release.

Officers found the bodies of his wife and daughter in trash cans in their home’s living room, police said. Both had been killed with an ax and one was dismembered with a saw.

An arrest affidavit said Maclaren told police he killed his family because he had just lost his job and feared they would become homeless because he had no money, KCNC reported.

He said he carried out the slayings on the day they were to be evicted from their apartment, according to the station.

The affidavit said Maclaren also told police he “does not regret” the killings because he “knows they are in a better place,” KUSA reported.

“Some of our detectives have been detectives for 20 years, and they described this as one of the most gruesome crime scenes that they’ve ever been a part of,” Englewood police division chief Tracy Jones told the station.

Englewood is a city of 34,000 people about 5 miles south of Denver.

This story was originally published March 29, 2023 at 8:13 AM with the headline "81-year-old says he killed family to save them from ‘miserable life,’ Colorado cops say."